To living-pterosaur investigators and to those interested in live “pterodactyls”
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MonsterQuest “Flying Monsters” Broadcast
Scientific Paper Published (Whitcomb)
New Book Nearly Ready For Sale (Amazon.com)
**********************************MonsterQuest “Flying Monsters” on television

The June 3rd show on the History Channel was interesting to me: Never before had I watched four of my friends on television in one night. I was gratified: It introduced many American television viewers to the concept of living pterosaurs. But some things could have been better, for it seemed to emphasize standard-model dogma above eyewitness accounts.

Garth Guessman was a key expedition member with the MonsterQuest team. On New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea, they gathered what I believe was the largest group of natives ever to assist an expedition trek to seek a living pterosaur (here, it is not called “ropen”); even a child or two was carrying luggage. Garth stayed up the first night, while the MonsterQuest team members slept.

Unfortunately the one major sighting was that night, with Garth the only Western eyewitness. And that important sighting was not disclosed in the show.

For those who saw that show, I hope they’ll all eventually come to know details like this: The two camp fires observed far off, that first night (“unknown lights” that were discovered to be camp fires in the morning), were unrelated to the strange light that Garth had seen while the other explorers were
sleeping. That detail was left out of the show, with no hint that anything strange had been observed during the expedition.

Photo:Left to right: Whitcomb, Woetzel, Garthman and Paiva

In addition, this MonsterQuest episode put great stress on the idea that pterosaur sightings in Papau New Guinea may be from misidentifications of bats. That idea is now very outdated: Fruit-bat-explanation was long ago shot down.

The producers or writers appeared to have decided ahead of time that pterosaurs are extinct. The expedition to Papua New Guinea was for making an entertaining television show, not for making a serious scientific investigation.

Aside from those problems, there were a few brief interview clips favoring the idea of extant pterosaurs; this balanced the major opinion emphasized by the show: extinction. Nevertheless, they did show some balance.

To their credit, the show included bits of interviews with the explorers Garth Guessman and Paul Nation, and with the eyewitness Duane Hodgkinson and with the physicist Cliff Paiva. Without those four persons, the show would probably have been a sham; with them, it was fascinating.

I devoted six pages of my new book (in the appendix) to this MonserQuest episode. (“Live Pterosaurs in
America,” nonfiction – see the end of this newsletter)
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Scientific Paper Published in the CRSQ Journal
“Reports of Living Pterosaurs in the Southwest Pacific”

The Creation Research Society Quarterly, Volume 45, Number 3 (Winter 2009) included my article on apparent living Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaurs in Papua New Guinea. This is not the first time something on this subject has been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal; I know of one other paper written on this (by Mr. David Woetzel, in 2006: “The Fiery Flying Serpent”).

For those who have read the second edition of my book “Searching for Ropens,” my article gives few surprises. But it does include details not present in the book, in particular regarding Hodgkinson’s 1944 sighting. Also, there are several tables that allow quick referencing of sightings and expeditions (also not present in my book). Unfortunately, those who are not members of the Creation Research Society do not have access to most of the articles; but membership is not expensive.

Much shorter than my previous book (SFR), at 102 pages of content, it still packs many eyewitness accounts, the vast majority of which have never before been published. The approach differs from SFR, in that it is primarity a cryptozoological book rather than a spiritual-religious-cryptozoological one. Nevertheless, part of the appendix deals with the creationist aspects of the investigations, without which there would not have been any expeditions and therefore nobody who would have reported their eyewitness accounts to me.

In the last newsletter, many paragraphs described one aspect of the American eyewitness accounts regarding the elimination of the hoax-explanation. Since then, while continuing to write the book, I found two more aspects of the overall testimonies that disprove that a hoax or hoaxes played any significant part in those accounts. All three methods are explained in the book.

At $12.50, the nonfiction will be available on Amazon, but not on many other sites. It should be ready for ordering sometime between July 11th and August 7th, depending on potential last-minute correctioins [make that "corrections"].

The archive of the previous newsletter (014), Which includes “Elimination of Hoax-Explanation,” is found at: http://www.laattorneyvideo.com/nonlegal/pterosaurs/newsletters/014/
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Back issues of the first eight issues of this newsletter are at:

To living-pterosaur investigators and to those interested
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CONTENTS
Introduction to Living-Pterosaur Expeditions
Florida Sighting Around 2002
Philippines Sighting Around 1994
New Insights Into Early History of LP Investigations
New Web Sites (including non-English pages)
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Introduction to Living Pterosaur Expeditions

Living-pterosaur investigations began around 1993, when Carl Baugh (founder and director of the Creation Evidence Museum, in Glen Rose, Texas) and missionary Jim Blume interviewed nationals (natives) in Papua New Guinea. Baugh was later assisted by Paul Nation in their 1994 expedition to Umboi Island, PNG.

In 1996, Baugh and Blume searched for pterosaurs in Northern Papua New Guinea, with one indistinct sighting of what may have been a ropen. In 2001, an American (who later informed me that he wishes to be anonymous) explored on the mainland of Papua New Guinea. He interviewed native eyewitnesses of a giant nocturnal flying creature that was reported to have killed a child years earlier. We suspect that it may have been a ropen.

In 2002, Paul Nation and his son, Nathanael, explored on Umboi Island, but saw no ropen. In 2004, the investigations continued with my own expedition and that of David Woetzel and Garth Guessman; we explored on Umboi Island and interviewed many eyewitnesses, in two separate expeditions. There were
two distant sightings: one per expedition.

More expeditions followed (Papua New Guinea): 2006 (Paul Nation) and 2007 (two). These three expeditions resulted in two separate video recordings of strange glowing objects that could not be explained, by scientists, as any commonplace light.

From 2007-2008, most investigations involved sightings in North America.
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Florida Sighting Around 2002

I received a sighting report from a man who lives in Florida. He says that he is acquainted with birds (that might be mistaken for a pterosaur). In his own words (spelling and grammar corrected):

“I live in florida so I’ve seen my share of cranes . . . but this WAS NOT a bird. A second later, something made us look across the street where we saw a second one flying over a house flying down
into that house’s backyard. . . [The first creature had] about 4′ long (wingspan).

“We were not drinking or on drugs! As soon as we saw the second one across the street we immediatly looked at each other and . . .I said, “was that what I think it was?”

He said ‘naaa it had to be something else.’

“I promise they were not birds.”
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Philippines Sighting Around 1994
[grammer and spelling corrected] Late in 2008, I received a report from a man in his 20′s who saw
what he called a “pterodactyl,” in fact two flying together, when he was a boy in the city of Pagbilao, Quezon Province (not to be confused with Quezon City).

According to the eyewitness, “I think we’re not the only ones who saw it, because my classmate told me that there are sightings of this thing in Atimonan, Quezon [Province], just one-half hr travel from Pagbilao, and I was told by the local fisherman there that he saw it several times, flying above the sea.”

I asked the young man some questions:

Q: Did the two creatures have tails?

A: YES! they have long tails about 3 to 4 meters long . . .it is not a bird: They don’t have any feathers.

Q: Did you have a good view of them?

A: Yes! I was not the only one who saw it . . .

Q: What time of day was it?

A: It was around 2:00-3:00 pm in the afternoon . . .

He added more: “I saw them clearly: the SHAPE, their BAT-LIKE WINGS, a LONG NECK and
. . . I dunno if it is a horn behind their heads. They have a long beak. I even saw their claws between their wings. They don’t have any feathers; their body really looks like a bat. They seldom flap their wings, about every 3-4 sec.; thats why I knew it is not just a big bat. . . .”

I know of other similar reports from the Philippines. It seems to me that this creature is a ropen, like the one in Papua New Guinea. (JW) We receive many reports of individual ropen-like creatures, but these two reports remind us that there are exceptions: Sometimes ropens do not fly alone. (JW)
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New Insights Into Early History of LP Investigations

Soon after sending out the last newsletter (012), I received a comment from Garth Guessman (one of themost active living-pterosaur investigators of the past few years). Garth contacted Dr. Carl Baugh (one of the pioneers of these investigations) and received this response from Baugh (about how this got started):

Hello Garth and Duane, [late 2008] . . . If I remember correctly, the late Walter Lang met Fred Brauer at one of Walt’s speaking appointments. After hearing of our mutual interest, Fred related to Walt his
knowledge of the . . . sighting by Duane Hodgkinson . . .

I visited with Fred and Walt at the Minneapolis Creation Conference. As a result of these connections I proceeded with the first venture to Papua New Guinea. Without these vital connections none of the work would have been possible.

Blessings, Carl Baugh

In other words, without the brave openness of eyewitness Duane Hodgkinson, none of these living-pterosaur expeditionswould have gotten started, for Baugh’s expeditions of 1993, 1994, and 1996 prepared the way for the other expeditions. Hodgkinson got these investigations started. (JW)
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by Jonathan WhitcombThe two photos presented here are from s8int.com and were not an original part of this newsletter. They are presented here because it seemed to be a subject well suited to present them, and we decided to make one post rather than two. It is our assertion that this piece represents a pterosaur, which would certainly be anomalous (by 65 million years).

Photo 1: Antique art from Nigeria, from the book; “L’Oiseau Dans Ll’arte de Afrique L’Oues”, (Birds in the art of West Africa)

Photo 2: The Nigerian piece compared with the fossil skulls of pterosaurs and with ancient drawing from Kalimantan.

Baugh was assisted by Paul Nation (also of that area of Texas) in the 1994 expedition. In 2004, the investigations continued with the expeditions of Jonathan Whitcomb, David Woetzel, and Garth Guessman, who explored Umboi and interviewed many eyewitnesses.

In late 2006, Paul Nation returned to Papua New Guinea, but not to Umboi Island. He was flown into a remote mountainous area of the mainland by the pilot Jim Blume. Nation had several night sightings of what the local villagers call “indava.” He videotaped two lights that were similar to the glowing forms
of Umboi Island (these kinds of creatures seem to have a bioluminescence).

Jim Blume interviewed many natives (late 20th Century). Blume was interviewed, by telephone, by Garth Guessman. Guessman gave a copy of the audiotaped interview to Whitcomb. Whitcomb included much of Blume’s information in his book. The book (“Searching for Ropens”) encouraged investigators to continue. Garth Guessman and David Woetzel began a new investigation (No. America).

Guessman & Woetzel were joined by Scott Norman, who saw a large pterosaur. Reports of Norman’s sighting were believed by some cryptozoologists. Living-pterosaur investigations now have more credibility in cryptozoology.

Jim Blume assisted Carl Baugh with interviewing on Umboi. Baugh brought Paul Nation along on one of the expeditions. Nation returned, alone, to Umboi, in 2002, strengthening friendships. The friendly villagers (natives on Umboi) assisted Whitcomb in 2004.

Whitcomb updated Guessman and Woetzel on conditions on Umboi. Guessman and Woetzel arrived and interviewed other natives on Umboi Island. Those two Americans obtained much information, leading to a scientific paper. Woetzel’s paper introduced living-pterosaur ideas to scientists in the U.S.

Woetzel’s published paper lead Whitcomb to write for the same journal. Readers of the journal better realized the depth of the investigations. (Lines of influence are still to come in the scientific community)

Paul Nation instructed and prepared Whitcomb to explore Umboi Island. Whitcomb explored Umboi Island and interviewed eyewitnesses. Info. from Whitcomb’s interviews were published in 1st edition of his book.

Book (1st ed.) influenced a businessman to help finance Nation’s 2006 trip. Paul Nation’s 2006 expedition resulted in videotape of indava light. Information on Nation’s 2006 expedition was put into 2nd edition of the book.

Paul Nation’s videotaped indava lights encouraged Destination Truth. Destination Truth team obtained their own video of “ropen” light. Broadcast of Destination Truth introduced many Americans to the ropen. More American eyewitnesses are now open to being interviewed.

A portion of that video was put onto YouTube (online) by Whitcomb. Many thousands of YouTube watchers were introduced to living pterosaurs. Some YouTube viewers told Whitcomb about their own sightings.

(These are just a sample of many lines of influence.)
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Near Collision over Indonesia

A few weeks ago, the pilot of a small plane reported a large flying creature: Just this past June, it nearly collided with the plane. It was about 150 miles southeast of Bali, Indonesia, at 6500 feet.

Immediately after the near collision, both the pilot and co-pilot said, “pterodactyl!” I (Jonathan Whitcomb) received emails from both men. They are both former navy pilots and I found their testimonies credible, without any sign of a hoax and without any sign of a predisposition to promote the concept of living pterosaurs. They do not seem inclined to either disparage or promote our investigations.

Although this sighting off the coast of Indonesia was too brief for the men to be sure of many details
of appearance, the size of the creature (at first the pilot thought it was another plane) and altitude
seem inconsistent with common birds or bats in the southwest Pacific. It could have been a ropen.
This sighting is not given as independent evidence of living pterosaurs; it is appreciated, however,
in context with all the sightings of giant pterosaur-like creatures reported in the southwest Pacific:
Perhaps large ropens can fly above 6000 feet.

I’ve been communicating, by email, with an eyewitness in Georgia. Two flying creatures were seen within a period of less than two weeks; one was larger than the other, but they were in the same general area. The sightings were just this past summer (2008).

From the drawings the lady sent to me, I am calling this apparent pterosaur “Hammerhead Ropen.” The head appendage is somewhat similar to that of the creatures seen by Hodgkinson and Hennessy; but the beak and the appendage seem more like one continuous head-structure. The head-appendage has a somewhat curved shape. Both beak and head-appendage are more blunt than is in the sketches of the Hodgkinson-Hennessy creatures.

The tail ends in a “flat, thick, heart-shaped pad.” Fortunately, this eyewitness is an artist; the drawings are better than almost any others that I have seen. I will be talking with her about the possibility of letting the world see her sketches. (She is still an anonymous eyewitness.)
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